It’s taken some time, but the update to VCF.JSONGenerator is finally now available on the PowerShell Gallery.
We debated at length on how we wanted to handle this release. VCF 9.1.0 brought some heavyweight architectural changes, which had a significant knock on effect on the VCF Planning & Preparation Workbook – to the extent that we had to fork that into two separate releases for 9.0.x and 9.1.x., so we debated whether we should have a VCF.JSONGenerator release per VCF release or having a single release that was capable of handing both.
In the end we decided on the latter, as we felt it was more intuitive for the end user to always have the latest release installed. That brought a lot of complexity with it though, both in terms of the JSONs it needed to be able to create, the workbook versions it would support, and the guardrails around both.
Traditionally, I create the module update after the relevant VCF release goes GA, and this time was no exception. However, I also write internal automation that relies heavily on the Planning & Preparation Workbook, and that naturally evolves during the pre-ga cycle, so this time I decided that I wanted to pivot that automation to leverage VCF.JSONGenerator.
Why are you telling me this I hear you ask? Well, put simply, it means that come GA for other major releases the hope is that I will have been iterating a pre-ga version of VCF.JSONGenerator to support that internal automation, and as a result, it should already be very close to perfect when that version of VCF goes GA. Long story short, I should be able to release VCF.JSONGenerator closer to GA from now on. Win for me (less duplication of effort), win for you (less time waiting for the update)
Point to note: The internal content transfer utility is still there – but it only transfers contents within versions. So an older 9.0 P&P can be ported to a newer 9.0 P&P. Likewise for 9.1, but we dont support transfer of content from 9.0 to 9.1 as too much has changed and you would only have to crack open the P&P for 9.1 and do a load of stuff anyway.
Special shout has to go out to Cliff Cahill on this. He took over development of the Planning & Preparation Workbook from me quite some time ago, and without his help, patience with my OCD, and tireless work extracting and testing the required JSONs I would never be able to get a release like this done.
Module is posted here
https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/VCF.JSONGenerator/9.1.0.1000
FearDamhan 
Leave a comment